1300 rescued with help of IAF, NDRF in Kangra’s Mand area; 150 still stranded

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, August 16

With water in river Beas swelling after increased releases from Pong Dam reservoir, the Kangra district administration has launched a massive operation to evacuate people living inside the riverbed.

The operation has been launched with the help of Indian Air Force (IAF) which has pressed its helicopters to rescue people. Besides IAF the NDRF and SDRF teams are also engaged in rescuing the villagers, using boats.

Till the filing of this report, 1300 people were rescued from Mand area extending in Indora and Fatehpur assembly constituencies of Kangra district.

The Mand area lies inside the Beas river bed downstream from Pong Dam reservoir. Over the years since the Beas river received minimum flows downstream of Pong Dam reservoir the people had started cultivating lands with the riverbed and had also constructed houses there.

However, this year due to heavy monsoon in the catchment area of Beas river the Pong Dam is already full to its brims. As per the data available from BBMB authorities the water level in Pong Dam was at 1398.68 feet which was more than the 1395 maximum water level generally maintained in the reservoir.

The BBMB authorities were releasing 141960 cusecs water from the Pong Dam reservoir that has inundated most of the areas lying with the Beas riverbed.

Kangra deputy commissioner Nipun Jindal who has been supervising the evacuation exercise said that 1300 people have been evacuated from the villages inundated in Indora and Fatehpur assembly constituencies. The evacuation was still going on and about 150 people are still to be rescued, he said.

Jindal said the district administration had alerted the people to leave the area after a warning was received from BBMB that water would be released from Pong Dam reservoir.

However, the people were reluctant to leave their houses and cattle and the help of IAF and NDRF had to be taken to evacuate them, he added.

The district administration has housed the people rescued from the inundated villages in Damtal temple and Radha Swami sect facilities in Fatehpur and Indora areas. The people are being provided food through community kitchens.

The villages that have been affected due to flood in Beas include Badala, Bela Indora, Mand Sanour, Miyani, Ulahiriyyan and Mand.